Software debugging systems are a common tool included with integrated development environments (IDEs). These IDEs are an example of a visual tool for creating software that brings together applications for editing, testing, running and debugging computer source code. In general, software debugging systems can be used to work backwards from the wrong output to the place where “things start to become wrong.” As such, software debugging systems and applications provide computer programmers and software developers with tools to help eliminate so-called “bugs” or problems with the systems and applications that are created. Further, some software debugging systems offer visual tools for creating software that illustrate to a user various portions of an application. In some cases, the cost of testing and maintaining software can outweigh the cost of actually developing the software. Software debugging tools can provide an efficient mechanism to search for bugs by allowing developers to look at specific portions of source code as they are executed.
In many instances, software developers may want to determine the source of a problem in a portion of an application by examining specific items in the source code such as methods, subroutines, functions, variables, and other items in the source code. In some cases, the origin of values assigned to different variables included in a software application can be difficult to find. With many developers working on larger and more complex applications, a mechanism for finding the origins of values assigned to variables and how those values are propagated throughout an application can be useful.